Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the National Park Foundation's Gala Expedition America
Chelsea Piers
New York, New York

7:38 P.M. EDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Secretary Kempthorne. Thank you
for your very kind introduction, Secretary Kempthorne, and thank you for
your good work that you've already done and that we know you'll do as
Interior Secretary, especially for your work with the National Parks.

Vin Cipolla, the President and CEO of the National Park Foundation,
thank you also again for everything you've done. Vin has been a
terrific leader for the National Park Foundation Board. Roland Betts,
the Treasurer -- and I wish I had a bad story to tell about him right
now. (Laughter.)

Also with us tonight is Fran Mainella, the Director of the National
Park Service. Fran is the outgoing director. (Applause.) We want to
thank her for what she's done. And then Mary Bomar, the
Director-designate, who was confirmed by the Senate last week is here.
Thank you, Mary, for joining us. (Applause.)

Also joining us tonight -- and these are the people who really make
these parks run -- are a number of our park superintendents, from big
parks and little parks and parks all over the country. So would all the
park superintendents please stand? (Applause.)

Thank you all. Thanks to the park superintendents and to all of
the National Park Service for what you do every single day in your
devotion to our national parks.

I also want to recognize in the crowd all the nature enthusiasts,
the history buffs, and the rest of our distinguished guests. Thank you
all very much for joining us tonight.

I'm delighted to be here with you to celebrate 40 years of the
National Park Foundation. All of us can remember the first time we were
amazed by a national park. My love of the parks began when I was
growing up in Midland, Texas, and visited nearby Carlsbad Caverns, New
Mexico, with my Girl Scout troop.

Now I hike in a national park every year with my friends that I
also grew up with in Midland. We began this tradition on our 40th
birthday by taking the river trip down the Colorado, and then hiking the
10 miles up the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Since then, we've
visited some of our country's most magnificent parks -- Yosemite,
Glacier, Yellowstone, Denali, Olympic, many more. Last year, we took
our daughters, and we did that Grand Canyon trip again. Twenty years
after that first visit, it was a lot harder to hike out those 10 miles.
(Laughter.)

President Bush and I live in a national park. The White House
reminds us of the diversity of our park system, which includes not only
the wide open expanses out west, but also fascinating urban historical
sites -- many right here in New York -- including Teddy Roosevelt's
birthplace, Ellis Island, Federal Hall, and the African Burial Ground,
which President Bush designated as a national monument just last
February.

Our parks are a fantastic national resource. And through its 40
years of stewardship, the National Park Foundation has helped preserve
them for future generations.

The foundation also makes the parks more accessible to today's
Americans. Through the Junior Ranger program, for example, the
foundation encourages young people -- especially disadvantaged and urban
youth -- to explore our parks. During these visits, children learn
about our country's history, our spectacular landscapes, our abundant
wildlife, and some, we hope, will even become inspired to become real
park rangers.

Over the last year, the foundation has raised almost $1.4 million
for the Junior Rangers program. These resources help young people
discover healthy new interests and learn to protect our natural
resources. They also highlight the foundation's success in getting
American individuals to invest in our parks.

Giving private citizens a sense of responsibility for our shared
national treasures is central to the National Park Foundation's mission,
and vital to the health of our national parks, because even though all
parks receive federal funding, they have always also relied on the
support of private citizens.

In 1872, it was the work of individual Americans, gold prospectors,
fur trappers, journalists, a Jesuit priest, that led President Grant to
set aside 2.2 million acres of western wilderness as a -- and I quote --
"pleasuring ground for the benefit and the enjoyment of the people."
This act created Yellowstone, our country's first national park.

Ever since, our park system has been expanded, maintained and
improved through support of the government and of private donors.
Citizens' contributions to the park come in all shapes and sizes. Here
in New York, during the 1980s, individuals, corporations and non-profit
groups led by businessman Lee Iacocca secured hundreds of millions of
dollars to renovate Ellis Island and the State of Liberty. This
campaign was the largest park fundraising effort ever, yet it was
pennies contributed by school children around the country that helped
pay for Lady Liberty's new platform.

Since 1967, the National Park Foundation has encouraged private
citizens to fulfill their obligations to our parks however they can --
through pennies from school children, contributions from private
companies, and the very personal gifts of time and hard work from park
volunteers.

More than a century ago, our national parks began as a gift from
private citizens. And tonight, we recognize the individual Americans
who have been good stewards of this gift, ensuring that our parks will
be around for many, many generations more to enjoy.

Thank you to the National Park Foundation for leading this effort,
and congratulations on your first 40 years. I wish you much success in
your work for our national parks for decades to come.